3 Decades of Magic: Shah Rukh Khan and the turning points in his career

How can one man do so many things? And be successful at all those things? This Padma Shri actor’s life and works make for an incredible case study. 47 years old and still not out of steam, he still has mega projects lined up. With Chennai Express due for release soon, he could very well be gearing up for another innings.

Out of the 185 awardshe has been nominated for, he has won 165. The statistics are staggering. Not just the quantity but even quality and variety. He has won awards in almost every top category including best actor, best villain, best comedian, best film (as producer) etc.

Let’s take a look at the turning points in the long spanning career of ‘King Khan’. The man who can play a frightening villain as well as he can play the ultimate romantic man of every girl’s dreams. The Magic began in the 90s.

KKKKKKK Kirannnnnnnn:

Known for his unique choice of roles early in his career, SRK created a niche for himself as the perfect anti-hero. Creating a great catharsis, striking fear, menace as well as pity in the hearts of his audience. Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993) & Anjaam (1994) were the highlight of the early 90s for SRK.

You can take Raj & Rahul out of SRK, but you can’t take the SRK out of Raj & Rahul:

No one had equaled the popularity of Amitab Bachchan’s iconic Vijay. Until the reign of SRK’s Raj & Rahul arrived. Even Salman Khan’s Prem was no match. With DDLJ (1995), Dil Toh Pagal Hai (1997) & Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) “The King of Romance” was born.

SRK had successfully transformed his image from the disturbed villain to the unbeatable romantic hero. Two of these roles – Raj of DDLJ and Rahul of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai are possibly the 2 most iconic romantic characters of the generation.

Only 2 things sell in Bollywood: Sex and SRK:

Neha Dhupia’s sensational quote about SRK had a lot of important people and the aam junta nodding in agreement. Anything the man touches seemed to turn to gold. This was SRK’s time for critical acclaim. He was already the people’s choice, with the critical and commercial success of Devdas (2002), Swades (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Chak De India (2007) & My Name Is Khan (2010) his position was cemented.

After venturing successfully into television, film production and ownership of a cricket team, ‘force SRK’ seems unstoppable. We have watched him play a disturbed lover, the perfect romantic, an NRI with a conscious, a man with Asperger’s syndrome, dying hero with perfect comic timing… the list goes on. And he does all this with utmost charm and surprising wit.

Let’s see what Chennai Express has in store for this magician with many faces.

3 Comments

Manas Kajarekar

July 5, 2013 at 5:21 pm

A perfectly written article..!!!!!!!

I as a die hard fan of SRK respect him as HUMAN BEING more over his acting skills.

You can see a caring & possessive father in him when he indulged himself in that infamous Waankhede stadium brawl as well as when he ( Still after achieving so called STARDOM ) attends parents’ meetings on the Open Day at his children’s school.

I respect him thoroughly when I see a Genuine life partner of Gauri & how he fullfilled his childhood love into a better half of his life.

These days people may criticise his ACTING SKILLS & taunt him as a TYPECAST , I also agree them sometimes as his competitor actors should call themselves LUCKY that this man have not utilised is TALENT, ENERGY & SKILLS at his par yet.

I always pray to god that this person should always reach the success at his best.

And he continues to be a Possessive Father, Genuine Husband, A true HUMAN BEING & actor (lol) as well.